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Reviewed by John Atlas. I’m one of those "soccer Moms" that was much talked about in the last presidential election coaching my son and daughter’s soccer teams for 8 years. I did it because I love my kids not because I thought my participation would strengthen democracy or contribute to the economic well being of my community. But according to Robert Putnam it does. Putnam, a political scientist from Harvard, in a brilliantly argued, thought provoking book says when lots of people in a community do things like participate in local clubs, civic and religious organizations, political parties and soccer leagues the society will be "smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy." My civic activity, however, appears to be going against the tide. Putnam, who penned an instant classic in social science, when he first published his ideas in an obscure journal in 1995, warns us that Americans are more isolated from each other and unengaged in civic life. Drawing on an enormous amount of evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter century, he shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and politics. He found: • Since the mid 60s, the number of Americans who reported that they had attended a public meeting or town or school affairs has fallen by more than on third. • Labor union membership has fallen for three decades. • The ranks of volunteers for civic organizations has plummeted. In the mid-1970s nearly two-thirds of all Americans attended club meetings, but by the late 1990s nearly two-thirds of all Americans never do. • Involvement in politics has declined. Participation in political parties has dropped and less than 50% of our eligible citizens voted in the last presidential election. • Membership and activity in local clubs and civic and religious organizations have been falling at an accelerating pace. • We spend about 35% less time visiting with friends than we did thirty years ago • Leisure activities that involve doing something with someone else, from playing volleyball to playing chamber music, are declining. • Our willingness to trust one an other is fraying. For example, employment opportunities for police, lawyers, and security personnel were stagnant for most of this century. America, for example, had fewer lawyers per capita in 1970 than in 1900! But in the last quarter century these occupations have boomed, as we have increasingly turned to the courts and the cops to make others keep their word. We're even bowling alone. More Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not bowling in leagues. When he first published his thesis many critics pointed to counter trends like the growth of mass membership organizations such as the American Association of Retired People, The Sierra Club, the Christian Coalition and the National Abortion Rights League. Putnam says these groups don't increase social capital, the term he uses to describe the basic fabric of our connections to one another, because "the only act of membership consists in writing a check for dues or perhaps occasionally reading a newsletter." For membership to be considered a form of social capital, he argues, it must contribute to the increase social trust. This trust cannot be achieved when members of an organization never meet on another. Most of those who belong to these organizations don't even talk to their friends about joining because writes Putnam, "why should they, if they of think themselves as fans, not players." Putnam's compelling argues that over the past thirty years we have become ever more alienated from one another and from our social and political institutions. This disengagement, Putnam warns, poses a critical threat to our personal health, local communities, and national well-being. He produces overwhelming evidence that when our connections erode, children are more unhappy; our teachers are afraid of their students; crime increases; and common problems, such as the need to improve education, don’t get solved. The loss of social capital is reflected in other critical ways: more teen pregnancy, child suicide, low birth weight babies, and infant mortality. Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, suburban sprawl, computers, women's roles and especially television have contributed to this decline. Electronic entertainment has dramatically privatized our leisure time. Age also contributes to the decline. Baby boomers and Generation X-ers are much less engaged in most forms of community life than those born in the first third of the twentieth century. Putman has become the most important of several scholars who have given the idea of social capital or what others call civil society a dramatic resurgence in the American public discourse. It began when after the fall of the Soviet Union when we learned of the brave Eastern European rebels who used the enclaves of civil society to nurture their successful rebellion against communism. Suddenly, the ordinary world of civic participation, family dinners, PTA meetings soccer leagues and even schmoozing has taken on social weight. From across the political spectrum conferences and seminars attended by politicians, foundation executives and pace-setting opinion makers have drawn connections between these mundane activities and the breakdown in community. Relying on Putnam and other scholars, they say the solution is a more social capital. Liberals and conservatives are battling over its meaning and the outcome of that battle will have significant implications for public policy. If you are liberal, civic engagement is a way to restore public support for government activism from better public schools to community policing. Some writers like Harvard professor Theda Skocpol even argue that growth in government spurs the development of voluntary associations and without active government, volunteerism and civic membership would be weaker today, not stronger On the other hand, conservatives, call for more reliance on our churches and volunteer organizations, rather than government to council troubled families and distribute food to the poor. They argue for replacing government support for jobs, housing and welfare with private charity and volunteerism. The growth in the federal government, conservatives claim, crowds out volunteerism and weakens community building. Whoever wins the battle over these ideas will dramatically effect government support for addressing the problems of the inner cities. Although Putnam is clearly on the liberal side of this debate, he fails to counter the conservative critique that says government invariably converts spirited local institutions into government grant-writing supplicants. And that the government is inherently unable to give out money without attaching strings and as time goes on weakening communities . Attempts at partnerships between big government and communities often undermine what citizens could do alone to restore the life of the community. Putnam also mistakenly downplays the impact of the growth of corporate giants brought about by mergers and the internationalization of the world economy on community building. And Putnam is not specific enough in detailing what government can do about the weakening of civic engagement. New public policies could fortify rather than weaken our basic institutions. We need to greatly expand community policing and strengthen community schools legislation that lets community groups like Head Start programs use school buildings as centers for mentoring and other constructive activities for young people. We need a jobs program that provides work opportunities for young males, especially poorly educated males, since jobless young men are less likely to marry, are less desirable as marriage partners and are less active in community affairs. And we need to stiffly enforcing the federal Community Reinvestment Act that encourages community organizations to partner with banks to stop the practice of redlining--a banking practice that discriminates against inner-city neighborhoods and minority consumers. In the 1830s Alexis de Tocqueville pointed to our civic associations as the distinguishing element of our unique democratic heritage. Looking back, I realized how important the soccer league was. The soccer league was one of the places my kids learned such values as how to balance competition and cooperation. It is the place where I met my neighbors, hung out with my friends, talked about solving problems in our schools and parks and where we demonstrate the importance of connecting with our that families and neighbors. By documenting the loss
of much of the social glue that has once held our society together and
calling for us to rebuild our eroded social capital, Putnam's book
deserves to be compared to such classic works as The Lonely Crowd
and The Affluent Society. |
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